


In the Cards

by Rinkafic



Series: Spandex Stories! [3]
Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-06
Updated: 2013-02-06
Packaged: 2017-11-28 09:28:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/672859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rinkafic/pseuds/Rinkafic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil isn’t quite dead, and the team comes to visit him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Cards

Phil stared up at the ceiling tiles over the bed. There were three thousand five hundred and eighty three divits in the tiles that he was able to see. He was fairly certain of that fact, as he had counted them five times since coming out of his coma. Moving still hurt, so he tried to stay as still as possible. 

He knew he should be dead. He would have known that even if the doctors and nurses had not harped on the fact every time they came into the room. He had a huge hole in his chest, courtesy of Loki. He had been through three major surgeries already in an attempt to repair the damages. Once, he had made the mistake of looking down when a nurse was changing his bandage - he got a glimpse of the raw wound and dark stitches and then got nauseous and had to look away. 

Recuperating, to put it bluntly, sucked.

The door opened and a familiar face appeared in the opening. Finally, a visitor! He had only seen nurses and doctors and was tired of the rotation of strangers. “It’s good to see you awake Coulson,” Director Fury said, moving to the bedside. 

“I should thank you for facilitating that,” Phil had been told about the difficulties involved in getting him to the surgical team that had brought him back from the brink of death. 

Fury nodded. “I cannot stay long, I’m on my way to a meeting.” He pulled a stack of magazines out from under his arm and placed it on the rolling table over Coulson’s bed. “I thought you might like to catch up on how the Initiative is moving along. We’ve had some good press.” 

“Thank you.” He glanced at the glossy cover of _Time_ magazine, where Tony Stark was grinning up at him triumphantly. “Did they all make it?”

“Yes. Thor returned to Asgard with Loki, the others are still around. You’re listed as dead, KIA, Coulson. The question is, do you want to stay that way?”

Did he? He looked down at the magazines. The Avengers Initiative had become his primary focus over the past few years. He had no other work, no family. He pushed _Time_ aside and saw Captain America gracing the cover of _Stars and Stripes_. For a short time, he had walked in the presence of greatness, of one of his childhood heroes. He looked up from Cap’s serious face to see Fury staring at him, waiting for an answer. 

“No, I don’t want that. I want to come back. Make me undead, please.”

“I’m on it. I had a feeling that would be your answer. Rest up.”

He flipped through one of the magazines, smiling at the snapshots of Tony and Pepper, out at a party in the city. In the background, he spotted Bruce in one, Cap in another. That was good, they were staying together, socializing together. 

Movement by the door caught his attention and he looked up to see Natasha and Clint standing there, both staring. Both of them had always been hard to read, they played their cards close to the chest, which was why they were still living agents instead of dead ones.

“I’m quite happy that you aren’t dead,” Tasha spoke first, moving to the side of the bed and leaning in to kiss his forehead. “It would have been annoying to train a new handler.”

“You owe me twenty, the Jets won.” Clint moved to the end of the bed and stood there with his arms crossed. Anyone else might have thought he was bored, but Phil knew his agent well enough to recognize that Barton was tamping down on his emotions, holding everything in. 

Tasha picked up one of the magazines and casually flipped through the pages. She stopped at a dog eared page, an article about the rarity of vintage Captain America trading cards. She twisted her lips and held it up for Clint to see. He frowned. Sensing a silent conversation going on, Phil looked from one to the other. “What?”

“Your cards got ruined,” Clint said bluntly. 

“They did? Damn it! I almost had a full set. Cap said he would sign them too.” 

The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of a nurse, announcing that visiting hours were over. Reluctantly, he bid them goodbye. He only noticed later that Tasha had swiped his magazine.

The next day, Pepper and Bruce came in together. She came straight to his side and gave him a careful hug and a kiss on the cheek. Bruce shook his hand. They made small talk about how he was feeling, hospital food and the weather. 

Awkwardly, Bruce reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out two trading cards, each in a protective mylar sleeve. “We thought these might cheer you up.” He slid them across the tray table.

Phil ran a finger over the top card, familiar to him, a favorite from the collection he had assembled as a kid. He smiled up at Bruce. “Thank you, Doctor Banner.”

“My pleasure, I hope you can find the others.”

Maria Hill came in at the evening visiting hours and she had a small tin box with her. She smiled and gave it a shake before opening it and spilling half a dozen photo cards onto the table in front of him. “Some of your these were still in your locker, I fished these out of the crate of your personal effects.”

He spread them out, happy to see two of the most difficult to locate cards among the set. Captain America stood proudly at the head of his team, leading them against the Axis Powers. The other was Cap on his motorcycle. He had spent many hours collecting the vintage cards, and had the pictures memorized. Familiar friends, something solid that had brought him comfort in his troubled childhood. “I appreciate your bringing these to me, Director Hill.”

“We were all upset when we thought you were gone, Agent Coulson. I know I speak for all of us when I tell you how relieved we are that you pulled through.”

He nodded, not having a suitable response to that. 

Stark turned up the next day, smuggling in a slice of pizza, a flask of scotch and two more replacement cards for his collection. Phil was beginning to sense a conspiracy going on, between the visits and the gifts. It gave him a warm feeling that they were all willing to go along with it. One of the cards Tony brought was one he had been missing from his set. When Phil told him that, Stark gave him an enigmatic smirk, refusing to reveal his sources.

It just so happened that Phil was staring at the new card when Captain America himself turned up at the door. His pictures really didn’t do him justice. The reality of him was so... there. “Hi,” Phil said breathily, hoping he didn’t sound like a fawning teenager.

“Hi. They said you’re getting out soon. Pepper is getting a room ready at the tower for you.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He pressed a few buttons and then extended the phone to Phil. “I took pictures so you could see.” 

His hand was warm when Phil took the phone. “Thanks, Captain.”

“You can call me Steve, Agent Coulson.”

“Only if you call me Phil.”

“Deal.” 

Phil scrolled through the pictures on the phone. He got through all the room decorating pictures and photos of the tower, and smiled as he looked at Pepper making funny faces, a snapshot of Tony sprawled on a sofa with a drink in his hand and another of Bruce skeptically eying a frozen drink with an umbrella sticking out of it. Steve leaned over when he saw Phil smile. “Oh, we had a Coulson’s Not Dead Party. We’re supposed to have Not Dead Party Part Two when you get home, at least that’s Tony’s plan.”

They had a party... they were having another party, for him? Phil swallowed the lump in his throat as he looked at a photo on the phone of Steve, Pepper and Clint, smiling cheesily for the camera. He handed the phone back, his fingers trembling as Steve took it. 

“You okay?” Steve looked at him with concern.

“Yeah, I just... it’s a little overwhelming. You guys, you know?”

Steve tipped his head thoughtfully and then gave a nod. “Yeah. I can see that. You do want to move into the tower, right? I can tell Pepper to make other arrangements...” Steve’s big hand was warm on Phil’s forearm as he gave it a squeeze.

“I do, yeah.” He’d be a fool to walk away now when he finally had something worth going home to. 

At his quick answer, Steve smiled. His pictures absolutely did not do him justice. Not at all. Phil appreciated that his team was bringing him replacement card for the ones he had lost. But he had the real thing now, right in front of him. 

He didn’t really need the pictures anymore.

 

The End


End file.
